This spring marked the very humble beginnings of the Vernalis
Project, a personal effort to compile data on and raise awareness of ephemeral
wetland habitats in Ontario.

With a quick surf of the web one can see that these habitats
with the unique organisms that live in and around them have become a hot
topic for discussion in parts of the United States. Much of the attention
has been focused on California, where environmentalists have been struggling
to prevent developers and others from destroying these unique habitats.
According to various figures, over 90% of the ephemeral wetlands (also
referred to as temporary and vernal pools/ponds) in the state have been
lost. How could this be? Well, as aptly stated on
the Environmental Protection Agency's website, these habitats
are "often smaller than the bulldozer that threatens to destroy
them". Commonly appearing simply as oversized puddles, ephemeral
wetlands are often overlooked because of their small size and the characteristic
dry phase.

Photo
by Don B - FCB

The Fairy shrimp is an organism that depends on
ephemeral wetland habitats for survival. Fairy shrimp are close
relatives of the well-known crustaceans, brine shrimp (a.k.a. Sea Monkeys
TM), and it was these fascinating creatures that originally ignited my
interest in ephemeral wetlands. Currently in California, five Fairy
shrimp species are listed as either endangered or threatened, while continued
efforts are being made to attain protected status for others. In
Ontario there are presently records for two different (but very closely
related) species. In terms of size and population Ontario is faced
with a somewhat different situation, having more than twice as much land
area with about 1/3 the population of California, so the threat may not
be quite so apparent. It is very important to initiate and continue
conservation efforts in Ontario, especially in the densely populated areas
of the

Continued from Page 1

south, to prevent a similar fate as California. This year
my goal for the Vernalis Project was to locate as many Fairy shrimp pools
as I could in Southern Ontario, a task more difficult than I had planned.
Aside from the relatively short window of opportunity (Fairy shrimp lifecycle
is usually completed in about a month), I soon discovered that there are
many ephemeral wetlands that don't have these crustaceans in them.
In the end, I managed to track down 30 Fairy shrimp pools but discovered
many other ephemeral wetlands in the process.

So what does the future hold for the Vernalis Project?
Well, aside from continuing to expand the database of Ontario's ephemeral
wetlands I'm hoping to launch a website outlining my discoveries.
I'm also very interested in incorporating amphibian and reptile (herpetofaunal)
data into the project as well. I began the Vernalis Project because
I recognised that ephemeral wetlands in Ontario are often overlooked habitats.
I plan to continue my quest to identify as many ephemeral wetlands as I
can in Ontario in order to thwart a similar fate as ephemeral wetlands
in California.

[Map of Ontario but shows no details ]

* Editor's Note:Bentley Christie is an honours Bachelor of Science graduate
in Biology(aquatic ecosystems).The Vernalis Project is an example of ONE person working
to make a difference.

This was the first
Fairy Shrimp found in 2002, during the daylight no less by Bentley Christie
(his hand to), and I didn't expect to find any.

This is a present given
to Bentley Christie, something I made up and call a "Handy-dandy-pocket-aquarium"
just for looking at small pond life and not only is it easy to carry around
but you can catch things with it as well. ]

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